Inground vehicle lifts are well known within the automotive maintenance and repair industry. An example of one such lift, specifically the MOD30 heavy-duty inground lift manufactured and sold by Vehicle Service Group, is shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the lift 10 includes a front housing 20 and a rear housing 30 that are each recessed into a floor 5. Each housing 20, 30 encloses the mechanical components required to operate the respective front jack 22 and rear jack 32 in each housing. Various methods of recessing the housings 20, 30 into an existing floor 5 have been used in the past. For example, in one such method a pit is excavated, the housing 20, 30 is suspended within the pit, a backfill material, such as pea gravel or dirt, is poured into the pit to surround the housing, and, finally, the housing is connected to the existing floor 5 using concrete and rebar. In this method, the housing 20, 30 is not supported along its bottom surface. Instead, the housing 20, 30 is only supported by its connections to the existing floor 5. In another method, a pit is excavated, a concrete slab or pad is poured in the bottom of the pit, then, once the slab has fully cured, the housing 20, 30 is positioned within the pit on top of the slab and the housing 20, 30 is anchored to the slab and leveled relative to the existing floor 5 surrounding the pit. Once the housing 20, 30 has been anchored and leveled, then a backfill material is poured into the pit around the housing 20, 30 and the housing 20, 30 is connected to the existing floor 5 using concrete and rebar.
While a variety of methods of installing housings for inground vehicle lifts have been used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventors has made or used an invention as described herein.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.